Prospect Notes, March 25, 2012

by John Sickels on Mar 25, 2026 7:35 PM EDT

Mar 8, 2012; Surprise, AZ, USA; Chicago White Sox relief pitcher Hector Santiago (53) pitches against the Texas Rangers during the second inning at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE

Prospect Notes, March 25, 2026

**Chicago White Sox pitching prospect Hector Santiago is under-the-radar nationally but is having a very fine spring, with one run allowed in eight innings. He's walked four but also fanned nine, and there have been rumors that he could be in the mix for the closer job, although fellow rookie Addison Reed plus veterans Matt Thornton and Jesse Crain are also options.

Santiago is an intriguing prospect in any role. A 30^th round pick in 2006 from Okaloosa-Walton Community College, he has a low-to-mid-90s fastball and developed a screwball last year. A lefty screwball pitcher is an unusual closer profile, but the situation bears watching.

**Another unconventional but successful lefty of note is Oakland Athletics prospect Tom Milone, who threw five shutout innings in an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants in Japan, fanning seven.

Including this game, Milone has thrown 17.2 innings this spring with a 16/1 K/BB ratio and a 3.57 ERA with 13 hits allowed. Acquired from the Washington Nationals in the Gio Gonzalez deal over the winter, Milone doesn't throw hard but is extremely deceptive, has superb control, and posted an ungodly 170/20 K/BB ratio in 174 innings between Triple-A and the majors last year. I know some people are skeptical about him, but I'm a believer at this point.

**Someone asked me for a Career Profile for Chipper Jones. I did one last year, and most of this data would still be valid, especially the stuff about his minor league career of course.

**I'm working on some 2012 draft stuff for Monday. Stay tuned.

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Read More: Jesse Crain (P - CWS), Matt Thornton (P - CWS), Chipper Jones (3B - ATL), Gio Gonzalez (P - WAS), Tom Milone (P - OAK), Hector Santiago (P - CWS), Addison Reed (P - CWS), Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals, Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants

Comments

Tom Milone

What kind of year do you expect from him, John? I think he’ll fit in nicely behind McCarthy, Braden, and Colon.

by Saint Matthew on Mar 25, 2026 8:46 PM EDT reply actions

milone

I’d look for slightly-better-than-league numbers.

by John Sickels on Mar 25, 2026 9:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Jays optioned Travis Snider

Too bad they wont just give him 500 PAs to see what he can do

by MjwW on Mar 25, 2026 9:51 PM EDT reply actions

Where are they going to give him the PAs?

Are you benching Rasmus, Thames, or Bautista? Encarnacion’s new approach worked wonders in the second half and he should have a very good year at DH.

Big Sexy

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by King Billy Royal on Mar 25, 2026 10:06 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Just as a hint

Rasmus’ OPS in spring training this year is a lusty .526, which is approximately what it was for Toronto last year. Yeah, I know, SSS, you don’t watch stats too closely in the spring, but still. This guy needs to show that he’s not broken somehow.

"That’s what a baseball player does: he uses the glove half of the time." -- Rick Horton regarding the DH.

by StanTheManFan on Mar 25, 2026 10:46 PM EDT up reply actions

problem is

if you send Rasmus down where do you put snider? he’s terrible in lf that alone cf. do you put thames in cf? that could be a disaster. he certainly isn’t going to move bautista.

by ScottAZ on Mar 26, 2026 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions

If he's OPSing .536 in June

Then it’s something to worry about. The Spring means nothing. His two months for Toronto were pretty bad, yes, but he showed flashes and there’s 2.5 years of much better hitting before that that I place a lot more weight in. No reason he can’t OPS .750 in the Rogers Centre

by MjwW on Mar 26, 2026 10:40 AM EDT up reply actions

At ,750 OPS, he isn't providing much value, though...

Much more of his value is tied up in his bat than in any other aspect of his game. He needs to be posting OPS values about 100 points higher than that to be of real value.

by dbreer23 on Mar 26, 2026 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions

I disagree

Fangraphs shows a league average for CF last year of .261/.325/.406; .324 wOBA, 103 wRC+. So a 750 OPS would be above average for CF, which with average defensive makes him close to a 3 WAR player. It’s not great, but that’s still pretty good. And there’s upside from there. Especially when CF was a black hole for Toronto last year (C. Patterson, R. Davis, and Rasmus did poorly for a couple months)

by MjwW on Mar 26, 2026 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Correct...

but his defense has been well-below average (also per FG) for the past two years…so his bat needs to play up (as he did in 2010.

by dbreer23 on Mar 27, 2026 1:20 AM EDT up reply actions

Defensive metrics are really funny with him. They rated him phenomenally in his rookie season and poorly since. I find it hard to believe he drastically changed from his first season to the second.

From watching him for two months in Toronto he looked fine for me. Certainly passed the eye test and made some great catches on balls I never thought he had a change on.

Based on the above two points, I think it’s reasonable to think of him an average defender in CF, or maybe a little below average

by MjwW on Mar 27, 2026 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions

Over Thames

As the starting left fielder.

I like Thames, I just don’t see as ever consistently being a league average left fielder. Snider is lower probability, but if he ever puts it together he can flat out mash. It’s time to figure it this year. Next year, the Jays should be closer to contending, and he;s out of options, so it could be a tough decision

by MjwW on Mar 26, 2026 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions

He needs a change of scenery BAD! Right now the Braves need a LF, the should try to trade for Snider.

by Jay212033 on Mar 26, 2026 12:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Manny Machado got the start today vs the Phills

And Roy Halladay. First time he faced him he missed a homer to dead center by a matter of feet. Second time he got fooled badly on one of Halladay’s breaking ball. Then in the 8th got a hit of of Papelbon down in the LF corner, would have been a double if the LF didn’t make a nice play on the ball.

He just looks like a natural at short and is holding his own vs very good pitchers.

by oriolekid on Mar 25, 2026 9:55 PM EDT reply actions